What's Your Best Nursing Ghost Story?

What Members Are Saying (AI-Generated Summary)

Members are sharing personal experiences and stories related to ghosts, spirits, and paranormal occurrences in healthcare settings. Some members discuss encounters with deceased loved ones or unexplained phenomena, while others share their interest in ghost stories and movies like "Doctor Sleep" and "The Shining." There is a mix of skepticism, curiosity, and belief in the supernatural among the forum participants.

Nursing is a profession that often involves long lonely night shifts in eerie hospital wards. It's a perfect breeding ground for ghost stories. These stories often involve sightings of apparitions, strange noises, and unexplained events that are said to have taken place in hospitals, hospices, and other healthcare settings. Some of these stories are believed to be based on true events, while others are purely fictional. Regardless, they continue to captivate and intrigue both nurses and non-nurses alike - providing a spooky glimpse into the world of healthcare after dark.

I know you have seen and heard freaky things. Share your nursing ghost stories...

My hubby actually had a good one, not a ghost story per say, but a scary sight in a room one night long ago!

My hubby (who is a paramedic) was a Corpman in the Navy working in a old naval hospital in med surge. One night a very old demented man was just done with his shower and the orderly hadn't turned off the old heat lamp in the bathroom...so that night there was a red glow in the room with the gent.

Now the gent slept naked, and as my hubby passed by to check on him the patient was in his room upright in bed stretching his arms up and groaning. My hubby said it looked like satan rising from the bed! LOL!!!!!!! He grabbed the other corpmen to check it out and they felt the same way...and it all gave them the ebbie geebies despite knowing the reason for the scene! LOL!!!!!

I thought that was a cute one!

Let me guess it was either Portsmouth Naval HOspital or Balboa

Love these stories..I have a few to share.

I'm doing my final consolidation in a psych hosp, and most nurses on the floor have at least one story that leads them to believe the floor we work on is haunted.

once, two nurses were on either end of the ward, trying to close windows...they'd close one, go to the next, close it, and the first windows would open again by itself. Finally, they both ran out of the rooms they were in, only to discover the other nurse doing the same.

two nurses have had their hair flipped when no one was around, when they were sitting seclusion.

One nurse once felt something wet drip onto her hand when sitting seclusion. she looked, was something red, she wiped it off. Looked up, nothing on ceiling..that was it

a nurse (one of the one's the window thing happened to, and had her hair flipped) was doing rounds at the beginning of the shift. the shower room door was closed, but she heard shower running. She went, asked coworkers who was in shower..no one knew, didn't think anyone was. So she went to shower room, went to open door..it was locked, she could still hear shower going. She freaked a bit, thinking pt had been locked in. Unlocked door, opened it..and the shower stopped.

same nurse, was sitting seclusion, could hear the door handle of the locked solarium rattling like someone was trying to open it..is a lever type handle, the sound was it going up and down over and over. In the morning, she went in there, she had opened the window of the staff smoking room in there to air it outm, she thought maybe the wind had done it. The window was closed when she checked. No one had closed it.

last night, same nurse and another went down to solarium, passed my male bathroom. no one in there, all pts were in bed. they got their smokes from the solarium, no more than 10, 15 secs later, walked back past male bathroom, tap was running. She had earlier turned off same tap, thinking someone had left it running.

same nurse was once doing rounds, heard someone whisper loudly "FIRE!" in her ear. No one around.

last night, another nurse was in staff room alone, heard very distinct 'CLICK CLICK' coming from the bathroom..few mins later, when she told us, another nurse was testing out sounds, trying to figure out what it was. The nurse who heard it said it sounded most like the door handle going up and down.

That's all i can think of for now...I work again tonight, so if i get more, i'll let you all know.

I think that the disquiet of the Schizophrenic mind causes some of this. I am not a believer in possession but I have seen how patients faces literally change shape when acutely psychotic. I have been around enough old psych buildings to be a believer in the unknown....

Most of them came from the state hospital that had closed and the staff was really their only family. There were several of them that I would see a lot doing just as they had done in life looking and acting in the same manner. Was it just energy or were we the only ones that were there for them in life so they stayed in death. :o

As a long time worker in a forensic hospital I have often had similar thoughts....

I heard this from a med nurse at a SNF where I worked as a CNA. He was a corpman in the Navy at the time, working at a Naval hospital in Baltimore (I think). Anyway this hospital was next to a military cementry, that dated all the way back to the Revolutionary War. One night he was passing meds and saw a man walking towards him in old fashioned military garb, you know like those Civil War re-enactors, and that's what he thought he was seeing until he realized that he could see thru the guy. He was so scared that he couldn't move and watched this apparition walk right thru his med cart, thru the wall to the outside and head back toward the cementry. He put in for a transfer the next day. :uhoh3:

Portsmouth (va) Naval Hospital (Bldg 1) was haunted

I have a lot of reiki stories like that..but don't want to ramble on.

On another note I am interested in working in hospice possibly when I graduate. I'm sure I will encounter some of the stories you all have described, but hope I am just there to provide comfort to those passing. I personally am not afraid of the life/death transition, but I commend nurses that are there for their patients that are fearful, and I hope to be one of those nurses someday!

I would like to hear more of your Reiki stories like this.

Thanks

Working (years ago) as a CNA I had been at the facility for 18 months without a death during my shift. Determined to keep my record, I had a patient whose 2 sisters had died in the previous 2 weeks (one in our facility, one not) I went in to turn Betsy (she had never been able to communicate, but seemed to understand). She was having periods of apnea and scaring me to death (this is at 7 pm-I didn't leave until 11p). Whenever I would say Betsy's name, her bedside light would flicker. I even tried talking to her without her name and then mentioning her name again--EVERYTIME her light would flicker. (witnessed by another CNA) So since Betsy was a DNR, I pleaded with her (quietly) not to pass until midnight (so I could not be there). She died at 12:30 am. I had told the nurse about the light, maintenance checked it out--nothing wrong. I'm sure her sisters were calling her "into the light" Weird..

We had, in our ICU, a frequent flier named Ricky. He was non-compliant, obscene to staff and so mean, his last gesture to his mother was flipping her the bird. The night he died, a little lady we had 2 rooms down, called staff to tell them of the man who was in her room. She was completely lucid and said she kept seeing a face in the window. She described Ricky to a T. Numerous patients had similar experiences and the incidences stopped only after we asked a priest to bless the room.

I work at a ltc at night and so far, I've not witnessed anything freaky or of the unnatural, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for something. That is when I'm not up to my elbows in work, which seems like the entire time I'm there. A ghost could probably come right up to me for a chat and I'd probably give him nightly prn's and send him off to bed without realizing it was a ghost, I'm so dang busy. A few weeks ago I experienced my first death as the charge nurse at this place. I sat with him because he was afraid of being alone and would cry out when anyone wasn't there with him. I called the family and told them to come, but they didn't get there in time. He died peacefully in my arms as I prayed for him and sang him a hymn. His last words were "Jesus, Jesus" I really think he saw Christ come for him or the angels or something. I felt priveleged to be a part of his passing and will never, ever forget him or his family. I hope one day he will pay me a visit there at the ltc. I know I would cry tears of joy to see him again. :wink2:

Originally Posted by TreeHawk

I have a lot of reiki stories like that..but don't want to ramble on.

On another note I am interested in working in hospice possibly when I graduate. I'm sure I will encounter some of the stories you all have described, but hope I am just there to provide comfort to those passing. I personally am not afraid of the life/death transition, but I commend nurses that are there for their patients that are fearful, and I hope to be one of those nurses someday!

I would like to hear more of your Reiki stories like this.

Thanks

Me too! I enjoy reading all of the posts in this thread! Thanks!

Specializes in previously Med/Surg; now Nursery.

The ER at my hospital is probably the most actively haunted. I worked nights as a tech while I was in school. The triage light would come on when the secretary would be in the station with us. One night was very active. Our only pt had been d/c'd. I cleaned the room and put a fresh sheet on the bed. When I came back by that room from putting the trash in the dirty utility room, the sheet was folded over on itself from the top and bottom (meeting in the middle). I fixed and went about my business. The next time I came by later the sheet was the same way again. I fixed it. Later we had a pt on that hall and I went to get vitals. The sheet was folded down at the top and bottom again. I told the nurses what was going on back there and we all agreed that it was "the ghost." I was going out to smoke under the ambulance hood. As I was walking by the cast room I could hear things being moved around in the supply room at the back of the cast room. I went to check and nothing was out of place even though I had just heard things being fumbled through loudly. I went outside and was trying to enjoy my smoke break, but the automatic doors kept opening and closing. I looked through the doors and could see all the nurses so none of them were near the automatic button to open it. There were no bugs flying about to set off the sensor. I finally said outloud something to the effect of "Hey, I'm tired. It has been a long night so leave me, the beds, and the supply closets alone and let me enjoy my break!" The door didn't open anymore, the beds were left made, and the rest of the night was uneventful. No one had any clue as to who the ghost could be. It was a fairly new ER at the time.

I have more, but that is all I have time for right now.

What I'm about to tell doesn't apply to nursing other than the fact that I was in nursing school when it happened. A few months ago my two son's best friend was tortured and murdered. It was done by a jealous exboyfriend of the girl that he was dating. My sons were devastated because they had grown up with him. They both kept saying, "Mom, he was like a brother to me." On the day of the viewing, I was getting ready to go to my nursing classes. That morning I looked in the mirror and said God, please show me how to help my sons get through tonight. Well, I went on to school, and the professor started talking about his best friend that had committed suidide. He made the statement that he was "like a brother to me". Well, that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He talked all through class about how he dealt with it, and by the time class was over, I was crying. I went back to my car and went around the car to put my books in the back. This was not the side of the car that I had gotten my books out of. I looked down and there lying on the pavement was seven pennies, all showing heads up. To know the significance of this you would have to go back to the week before my sons friend, Stacy, was murdered. We were at my sons house and were the only one's in the house at the time. I looked down on the floor and saw a penny. Stacy told me to pick it up, and I told him, no, that it was on tails and that was unlucky. I know that Stacy left those pennies there for me that day to let me know that he was ok and that my sons would be ok. There weren't any cars parked beside of mine when I pulled into the parking lot, and there weren't any beside of it when I came out of class. I've still got those pennies and wouldn't take a million dollars for them. I know from my own personal experience that the people we love never leave us. They are always there watching over us.

One night I was taking care of an elderly man that had a self inflicted gun shot wound to the head-he had been through surgery and in ICU on max support and was anticapated to die . The family had been in and said their good byes and had made the man an organ donor. My job was to maintain the body until herniation of the brain and call CORE so they could do their job. All of a sudden , the monitor alarmed that his blood pressure had jumped to 230/120 heart rate 150 then just as quickly came back to normal..herniation had occured as I walked into the room alone, ther above the head of his bed was like a fog had moved in or some kind of vapor just hanging over the patient..no one else in the room. I ran from the room to get someone toverify this for me but by the time I could get anyone to believe me and come back to the room...it was gone.

I was never sure if death occured when the heart stopped or the brain was dead I think I know the answer now.

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